Safeguarding children affected by

1

• Safeguarding children affected by
• gang activity and/or
• serious youth violence
• Discussion and consultation
• Christine Christie

2
Why gangs and serious youth violence

• Children may be affected by gang activity which
  has not yet reached the level of serious violence
  e.g. threats, graffiti etc
• From London LSCB consultations with children we
  know that they want us to deal with gangs
• Serious youth violence is 3x more likely to be
  committed by gang-members than non-gang
  anti-social children

3
The procedure headlines

• Sections 1 to 3
• Introduction, legislation policy
• and principles

Peer group, wannabe group, gang and organised
criminal group and the MPS definition of serious
youth violence
Children who are harmed and children who harm
should both be treated as victims The childs
safety from harm is paramount
4
The procedure headlines

• Sections 4 and 5
• The origins of violence - serious youth violence,
  gang involvement, formation of gangs

The roots of aggression and violence are in the
early years i.e. good enough parenting is
critical If the roots are in the early years, a
child is unlikely to grow out of violence on
his/her own
A child who harms can be an instigator, an
imitator or a coerced perpetrator
5
The procedure headlines

• Serious Youth Violence weapons, alcohol and
  drugs, sexual violence

There are many unidentified sexual abuse/rape
victims, too scared to disclose
6
The procedure headlines

• Sections 6 to 8
• Identifying a child at risk of/from gang
  activity, becoming a serious violent offender,
  sexual exploitation
• Fostering local expertise
• Assessing levels of risk/need

A child can be both a victim and a perpetrator
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The procedure headlines

• Sections 9 and 10
• Common assessment framework

Safeguarding interventions can be at various
levels e.g. single agency signposting to youth
service/sporting activities for children (or
community parenting self-help group for parents),
single agency CAF, multi-agency CAF, child in
need or child protection
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The procedure headlines

• Children at risk of significant harm
• Sections 11 and 12
• Looked after children and parental engagement

In every case - victim or perpetrator - a child
needs a safeguarding (i.e. risk of harm)
assessment and plan
9
The procedure headlines

• Section 13
• Different professionals roles responsibilities
• Section 14
• Information sharing

Very close multi-agency working is required to
undertake parallel specialist assessments (risk
of harming and risk of harm) and which agency is
responsible for co-ordinating these and the
overall plan needs to be clear
There is always a public interest angle i.e.
other children likely to be at risk of harm
10
The procedure headlines

• Section 15 LSCB role
• Three part focus early years, parenting 5 17s
  and criminal justice
• Support agencies to engage local communities in a
  confident community response to better parenting
  / safer communities
• Have links with and cognisance of, local
  strategies for crime reduction, offender
  management, housing management, regeneration,
  leisure and other diversionary activities

11

The procedure headlines

• May need to collaborate to tackle cross-borough
  gang activity and serious youth violence
• Voluntary agencies and community groups are key
  because many children (and many newly immigrant
  communities) do not trust statutory services
• CAMHs (and substance misuse services for
  children) need to be flexible and accessible, an
  example, might be working through a voluntary
  agency drop-in centre or outreach service

12

Discussion questions

• How can we use an understanding of the roots of
  aggression violence to prevent/reduce serious
  youth violence?
• - could we introduce multi-agency child
  development training?
• How can we link lower level concerns through the
  CAF to diversionary activities?
• - is this the right link between community
  provision strategies to individual child
  responses?

13

Discussion questions

• Could we expand the AIM model (of joint YOT and
  childrens social care assessment for children
  who harm sexually), so that it can be used for
  all children who commit serious violence?
• - and implement it consistently across
  London?
• What should the LSCBs role be?
• - (amongst other things) e.g. are all YOT
  local management reviews scrutinised and the
  action plans monitored, by the LSCB as well as
  the YJB?

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Consultation information

• The procedure is accessible on the London
  Safeguarding Children Board website
• Consultation responses can be emailed to
• ian.dean_at_londoncouncils.gov.uk
• The closing date for the consultation responses
  is
• 27th February 2009

www.londonscb.gov.uk